Damaged Goods

[squigglequill]

So I'm in QFC today and I hear a crash and look to see that a couple of adults are standing in an aisle, with a small child and it looks like the child smashed a jar of food. The adults are standing there smiling and laughing, and their child is laughing too, and one of them says, in a joking voice, "Oops. Clean up on Aisle 4" and they laugh some

Comments

[sculptruth]

Often, the most privileged people are the most ill-mannered, I've found. It's sad, but true. I wonder if there is some kind of reversal in contemporary culture where class and etiquette are connected somehow-- the higher the class the worse the manners? LOL

[squigglequill]

Some of that depends on whether they're old money or new money. When I worked as host for the snob club at the Paramount Theater, I noticed that people who came from rich families and had been rich all their lives, were often very well mannered, whereas the Microsoft millionaires and other brats who had been working class but then became rich, were rude and obnoxious.

I'm guessing it might be a difference between "I earned my way to the top, so there! I'm rich and I can make unnecessary demands and shit all over other people! Woohoo!" vs "I was born into wealth and I know I could be hated or taken advantage of because of it. I don't know how to survive in a working class environment, and that makes me vulnerable, so I take care to behave myself."

And I'm sure that isn't always the case. Paris Hilton is a glaring exception to that pattern, of course.